Tag: uptown

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Business News

Yogurt Vi to bring fresh eating alternative to Clifton Heights this spring

Commercial development is under way for a new business at the high-profile Calhoun Street Marketplace near the University of Cincinnati.

Yogurt Vi, located on Calhoun Street beneath University Park Apartments, will open in early Spring as a health-conscious frozen yogurt cafe catering to the neighborhood’s younger crowd of university students and urban professionals. Yogurt Vi hopes to fill a niche in the Clifton Heights business district by offering visitors a unique and healthy frozen yogurt experience at its uptown location.

“We hope to serve as a destination place for socializing, studying and snacking,” says Kelly Wherley, Operations Manager for Yogurt Vi. “Calhoun Street was selected for our store because we see a lot of opportunity in the redevelopment of this area and believe we can make a difference in the revitalization of the neighborhood.”

With a wide variety of self-serve yogurt on tap, including probiotic, lactose-free, low fat and non-fat varieties, Yogurt Vi will offer a broad selection of dry toppings, fresh fruits, and desserts to satisfy any palate, as well as a healthy buffet of bottled beverages and prepackaged salads and sandwiches.

“Yogurt Vi is the type of establishment that college students will really appreciate and benefit from,” adds Wherley, standing beneath the restaurant’s newly installed granite arches and bright LED lights. “With the location so close to student housing and the University of Cincinnati, we hope to serve as a destination for campus students looking for a healthy eating alternative.”

Robert Neel, president of Clifton Heights-University Heights-Fairview Neighborhood Association (CUF) is also glad to see the new yogurt restaurant move into the Calhoun Street Marketplace location. “The community is excited about the retail vacancies filling up in our business district and the positive sign that sends for the project beginning across the street,” he remarks, referring to the U Square @ The Loop development between McMillan and Calhoun.

“We are looking forward to the further development and rebirth of our business district,” Neel adds. “Energy builds more energy for positive moves forward. I hope Yogurt Vi contributes to further momentum for our neighborhood.”

Yogurt Vi is set to launch this spring, but those looking to stay current with updates can follow the store on Twitter @Yogurt_Vi or by becoming a fan on Facebook.

Categories
Development News Transportation

Cincinnati Streetcar project identified as regional priority by OKI

Cincinnati’s federally-mandated and federally-funded transportation policy-making organization, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI), approved $4 million for the Cincinnati Streetcar project in May 2010. Now, OKI has unveiled a new video that discusses the highlights of the modern streetcar system and why it was the recipient of the money.

The funds OKI approved came through the federal government’s Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality (CMAQ) program. At that time, the Cincinnati Streetcar project was the highest scoring of 14 total transportation projects being considered for the money.

Within the video, OKI highlights the appeal of connecting the region’s two largest employment centers, encouring redevelopment of historic Over-the-Rhine and then further expanding the system so that it reaches other areas including Northern Kentucky.

Cincinnatians For Progress will be hosting a kick off party and fundraiser at Grammer’s (map) tonight from 5:30pm to 8pm. The event will feature happy hour specials all night and is expected to have a large turnout of those interested in learning about how they can support the Cincinnati Streetcar and potential light rail transit in the region.

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Business Development News Politics Transportation

Fight for your city, fight for the Cincinnati Streetcar

Many of UrbanCincy’s readers have asked what it is you can do to help support the Cincinnati Streetcar and defeat the special interests that are once again trying to keep rail transit from Cincinnatians. Well, the time has come for you to get involved and get active.

The first thing you can do is write an email to the State of Ohio encouraging them to continue their support of the state’s highest scoring transportation project. The special interests working to keep rail transit away from Cincinnati have made an aggressive push with the anti-transit Governor Kasich (R) to pull upwards of $50 million in state support from the project. The funding would largely help build the modern streetcar system from the riverfront to Uptown near the University of Cincinnati. Some of the money would also fund preliminary engineering work for phase two of the project which would send the streetcar further into Uptown.

You can contact the appropriate state officials by emailing TRAC@dot.state.oh.us (must email by Friday, February 11). Tell them why you support the Cincinnati Streetcar and be sure to remind them that this is the state’s highest scoring transportation project, by far, and that they should approve the $35 million in construction funding for “Cincinnati Streetcar Phase 1” and $1.8 million in preliminary engineering funding for the “Cincinnati Uptown Streetcar.”

As COAST has returned to keep rail transit from Cincinnatians who voted their support for the project in November 2009, Cincinnatians for Progress has also returned to the scene to once again defeat those special interests. In 2009, CFP led a massive grassroots campaign that gathered approximately 10,000 Cincinnatians to make phone calls, canvass door-to-door throughout the city, organize fundraising efforts and run a get out the vote campaign.

The group is getting fired up for what may be a vote this May or November (Yes, in November when the city will be well underway building the streetcar system – approximately $50M worth of construction). If you would like to get involved, show up at their kickoff event to be held at Grammer’s (map) on Wednesday, February 16 from 6pm to 8pm.

The Cincinnati Streetcar is projected to create 1,800 new construction jobs, generate thousands of new housing units, put people back to work, broaden the city’s tax base and continue the renaissance taking place in Cincinnati’s urban core.

At a recent press conference about the neighborhoods selected for the 2011 Neighborhood Enhancement Program, City Manager Milton Dohoney said the following.

I ran into a handful of people after the holidays who I guess had watched our struggles as we tried to deal with our budget in December, and they said uniformly, ‘Milton you look tired. Did you get any time off?’

Well, you can lay down if you’re tired, and you can lay down if you give up. But I work for the City of Cincinnati, Ohio and I’m not giving up. Our city is going places. We might be going kicking and screaming, but we’re going places.

We are still feeling the recession, but in spite of that, we’re developing our waterfront, we’re breaking ground soon on a casino, we just did a project announcement for the Anna Louise Inn that will make a difference in people’s lives. LULAC is coming this year, the World Choir Games are coming next year, and yes we are still committed to buidlng a streetcar system. Music Hall is going to be redone, Washington Park is being redone and new people are coming to call Cincinnati home. We’re going to build some new houses in Bond Hill and we’re going to try to make a difference around Findlay Market in that area of Over-the-Rhine. We don’t have time to lay down.

We are not perfect, but you gotta love your city, and you gotta be willing to fight for it and advance it, and that’s what we’re about.

Like City Manager Dohoney expressed, stay passionate about what Cincinnati is, what it used to be, and what it can become. Support the Cincinnati Streetcar. Support Cincinnati.

Categories
Development News Politics Transportation

Time to fight for light rail and streetcars in Cincinnati – AGAIN

It appears as if the special interest group that led the effort to require a vote on all passenger rail transportation in Cincinnati is now leading an effort to outright ban all passenger rail transportation in Cincinnati.

The anti-spending group COAST evidently did not get the message from Cincinnatians who voted nearly 2:1 in November 2009 when they voted in support of passenger rail. So, after asking if city residents wanted to vote on every passenger rail investment, and getting a resounding no, they are doing what they want and asking city residents to vote on passenger rail investments. Specifically at hand would be any investments in streetcars or light rail for the next decade.

The vote that will decide whether or not to ban passenger rail in Cincinnati for the next decade, whether it is fully funded by whatever funding source, will more than likely occur this May in a special election that will cost taxpayers $400,000.

So for those that have yet to see a modern streetcar, you can check out this video on the modern streetcar design that may be used for Cincinnati’s fully funded streetcar system that is about to begin construction and be operational by 2013. If you need more information on Cincinnati’s streetcar project, check out the CincyStreetcar Blog for regular updates and information or CincinnatiStreetcar.com for official project details, studies and reports.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

Urbanist movement rises anew in Cincinnati a decade after civil unrest

In 2002 the concept of urbanism arguably hit an all-time low. The city was recovering from civil unrest that wreaked havoc on inner-city neighborhoods the year before and caused economic boycotts, urban neighborhoods were suffering from severe disinvestment, urban populations were in decline, and the City’s Planning Department had been cut by then Mayor Charlie Luken.

Today, however, the state of urbanism in Cincinnati is very much different. The civil unrest of 2001 has led to massive police reform and a focus from major corporations on those most struggling inner-city neighborhoods. Investment in urban neighborhoods has become a priority of recent political leaders and urban populations are increasing all over Cincinnati. Also during that time the Planning Department has been restored along with the creation of the Office of Environmental Quality, and the development of the City’s first comprehensive plan in decades.

In addition to the formal progress that has been made, there is a diverse group of urbanists that have organized around common beliefs and goals that are looking to improve Cincinnati’s urbanism.

“Urbanists believe that great historic cities are the highest achievement of the human spirit and once again ought to be the preferred places to live for America’s most talented and productive people,” explained University of Cincinnati adjunct planning professor, and co-founder of the Urbanists, Terry Grundy. “Urbanism, as the term is used in Cincinnati, is an intellectual, cultural and political movement which promotes this point of view.”

As Grundy puts it, the urbanism movement emerged in Cincinnati shortly after the civil unrest took place in 2001. He says that a group thinkers, civic leaders and philanthropists came together to reflect on what had happened in the city and decided that something needed to change.

“The trajectory, if allowed to continue, would have inevitably led to the ‘Detroit-izing’ of Cincinnati. This was a prospect those thinkers were not prepared to accept, and they have ever since been promoting a ‘place of choice’ ideology for the city.”

Most recently that thought movement has led to the Soapbox Speaker Series which is co-sponsored by Soapbox Cincinnati, the University of Cincinnati’s Niehoff Urban Studio and The Urbanists. The intent, Grundy explains, is to provide opportunities for people who share the urbanist perspective, or who are interested in learning more, to network and come together to learn and share ideas.

The first speaker series event held in uptown Cincinnati’s Corryville neighborhood focused on how the city’s food scene has supported urbanist outcomes through things like local food sourcing, food trucks, street vendors and more. The next speaker series event, to be held on January 5 from 5:30pm to 7:30pm, will focus on philanthropists of urbanism in Cincinnati.

“These are people who moved into and did development work in historic neighborhoods that had declined and, by their example, encouraged others to take a chance on those neighborhoods,” Grundy said.

The event will feature a panel of Sean Parker, Beth Gottfried, H.C. Buck Niehoff and Dave Abbott.

“Urbanism, like all emergent movements, needs to be backed up by resources if it is to be successful in promoting its ideas and pursuing its concrete development strategies. The individuals, on this panel, have been willing to direct their foundation’s investments to activities that are urbanist in intent.”

Those interested in attending the third Soapbox Speaker Series event (map) – Patrons of Urbanism: New Ambitions for Public-Private Partnerships – are encouraged to register in advance for the free event. Organizers say that a happy hour reception and light food will be provided by Fresh Table, and that a $2,500 FUEL grant will be awarded to one lucky applicant.